Growing tomatoes in cool climate is a challenging and fun thing to do. We grow mainly heirloom tomatoes. Every year we try some new varieties and choose from those that have proven to be great for our garden. And there are so many to choose from. Not all tomatoes are the same. Some ripen faster ...
Growing Food
Growing Sweet Potatoes in Cold Climate
Sweet potatoes are a heat-loving summer crop. They are not suited for the northern climate, nor a short growing season. Here at Northern Homestead, we are dealing with both. But sweet potatoes are tasty and so good for you. We love them baked with some homemade sour cream, yum. So ...
Growing Food – Carrots
Beautiful, tasty, crunchy, healthy - just a few words that come to mind when I think about carrots. Raw or cooked, sweet or spicy, juiced, fermented, pickled and baked - carrots have so many uses. Carrots are a must-have in the garden. During World War II my mom (at that time a child) was sent ...
12 Favorites to Grow in the Garden
Spring is an ecxiting time of planning and planting the garden. Every year the question comes of what to grow. It is important to grow what you eat, and not what looks good in a catalogue. Here are 12 of our favorites to grow in the garden. The list is not exhaustive, but these are the top plant ...
3 Reasons To Grow Your Own Salad Greens and How To Do It
3 Reasons to grow your own salad greens and how to do it in the soil in a square foot garden or in hydroponics, aeroponics or the Kratky method. A retired M.D. still remembers how he and his wife started in our rural area. His wife wanted to buy some salad greens from a local store, but there ...
Growing Food – Scarlet Runner Beans (Recipe)
In the summer, when the garden is in full production, I love to go through it and pick our meals. Whatever is ready goes into the recipe. So many great things are ready, and today's special is scarlet runner beans. These beans are a win-win in the garden on so many levels. Beautiful Scarlet runner ...
Growing Food – Potatoes
If you want to be growing food that you eat, grow potatoes. It is a high yield, easy to grow crop. Plus, potatoes store well for months. A must-have in the garden. We do not share the view that potatoes are bad for you, just because they are starchy. Potatoes are yummy and good for you. Since ...
Growing Food – Cabbage
Cabbage is a must have in the garden. It is one of those vegetables that can be grown no matter where you live. In warmer climates you can grow cabbage in the winter, and in cold climate it can be grown in the summer. If you want to grow food, then grow cabbage. Cabbage varieties Cabbage is a ...
Grow What You Eat and Eat What You Grow!
Gardening can be just about fun. Most often a just-for-fun garden is a flower garden, you grow it to enjoy it. However, sometimes even vegetable gardens are a bit like just-for-fun gardens. It is fun to grow things that look so interesting in a catalog. But then what? Anyone with me? You grow this ...
Grow the Dirty Dozen Foods
With limited space and possibilities only a few of us can grow everything we eat. When choosing what to grow there are different approaches to it. In the past we mostly grew what grows well here and we have had success with it. After giving it some more thoughts I think we can do better than ...